An equation based on a small particle suspended in a fluid to accelerate from stationary to achieve its terminal velocity. The equation suggests that the terminal velocity is reached after an infinite period of time but is usefully expressed as:
where g is gravitational acceleration, is the difference in density between the particle and fluid, dp is the diameter of the particle and μ is the viscosity of the fluid. The particle, which is usually solid although it also applies to small bubbles and droplets, has a maximum size of particle governed by a correlation of Reynolds number based on the particle dimension and drag coefficient as:
as well as a minimum size for the fluid viscosity to operate (Brownian motion). The external forces on the particles may be gravity, centrifugal, electrostatic, and magnetic. Stokes’s law is named after Sir George Stokes (1819–1903).